--- description: Three men were swarmed by enraged bees outside of Tampa on Sunday, while trying to get honey from a wild hive title: Florida Bee Swarm Leaves Three Men Hospitalized image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c61860d25bb6501/698786b9428a9e6c32cc7f8d/518638797.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Accident](/tag/accident/) ## Accident Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Bee Swarm in Florida Has Left Three Men Hospitalized by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 6, 2015 3:39 AM CUT  Bees and honeycombs Bees and honeycombsKerstin Klaassen—Getty Images by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 6, 2015 3:39 AM CUT Three men were swarmed by enraged bees and stung repeatedly outside of Tampa on Sunday, while trying to get honey from a wild hive. They were subsequently hospitalized, WTSP [reports](http://http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2015/04/05/pasco-bee-attack/25330157/ "undefined"). “They were covered in bees, their beards, their hair, their clothes — bees were everywhere,” a neighbor told WTSP. Pasco County fire rescue fended the swarm off with a hose, but a local woman was also stung while leaving her home and officials are cautioning residents of New Port Richey to remain vigilant in case the bees return. There could have been as many as 30,000 bees in the hive. \[[_WTSP_](http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2015/04/05/pasco-bee-attack/25330157/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3771805/florida-bee-hive-attack-swarm/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3771805/florida-bee-hive-attack-swarm/"},"headline":"A Bee Swarm in Florida Has Left Three Men Hospitalized","datePublished":"2015-04-06T03:39:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:19:26.497Z","description":"The men were trying to get honey from a hive that may have contained up to 30,000 insects","url":"https://time.com/3771805/florida-bee-hive-attack-swarm/","keywords":["Accident","Bees","Bizarre","Florida","Injury"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c61860d25bb6501/698786b9428a9e6c32cc7f8d/518638797.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sabrina Toppa","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c61860d25bb6501/698786b9428a9e6c32cc7f8d/518638797.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Honey bees","caption":"Honey bees","creditText":"Kerstin Klaassen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/accident/","name":"Accident"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3771805/florida-bee-hive-attack-swarm/","name":"A Bee Swarm in Florida Has Left Three Men Hospitalized"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species","description":"What are invasive species, and why are they dangerous? TIME's Bryan Walsh explains how animals like the Asian carp, lionfish, and Burmese python can be a threat.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zHyAT7e9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-04T20:50:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zHyAT7e9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3771805/florida-bee-hive-attack-swarm/","duration":"PT2M18S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3771805/florida-bee-hive-attack-swarm/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```